Template sequencing for strength

Training Q&A [Moderated]
1

Hi there,

I’ve been an avid follower of your content the past 1-2 years (and use your templates for my programming). Thanks for all the great information. I’m interested in both fitness and health topics, and you folks do a fantastic job covering both.

Currently on week 11 of legacy 12WS. 49 y/o, 6’1", 205-210 lbs, been lifting seriously 2-3 years. At my last meet in Jan did 210/142.5/240 kg. I am going to run a mock meet at end of this template and hoping to beat these numbers although it will likely be small gainzz (my RPE 9’s this week were 205/145/230). I came into this template after PBI which I started a few weeks after gyms re-opened here in June (Vancouver, CA).

My primary goal is strength (and good health, haha). I plan on maintaining weight as my waist is 34-35", so have heard Jordan’s guidance on weight gain in light of weight circumference. I hope to do a meet next fall and so looking at doing the following heading into a Sept/Oct meet:

Hyper I
PB I
Group Programming (3 months)

Is this a good approach to improve strength for a meet next fall? At this point, I can only train 3 days per week and so the 3 day templates make the most sense for me. Perhaps for the meet, I may be able to train 4 days via group programming.

Also, any general tips on what to do when you have to add a few ‘filler’ weeks at the front end of a template in order to align to a meet date? For example, I might just go off-template for a few weeks before starting Hyper I or need a few weeks to bridge between PB I and Group.

Happy Thanksgiving.
ROD

2

Rod,

Hope you had a good holiday and thanks for the kind words.

As far as what template sequence is the best for strength improvement, people respond differently to the same program and thus, there isn’t a singular recommendation here. That said, it would be hard to not recommend a strength-focused program. I think Strength I or II would be the move. If you respond well to that, I’d probably repeat it for a second time before taking a 3-6 week break and running something like the bodybuilding template or similar for that period, before re running a strength template again.

As far as filler weeks go, I think adding another repeat week to the end of the block (e.g. 1 more developmental week) can work if you’re responding well or, alternatively, doing two back-to-back low stress weeks to start a new program after coming off another template.

-Jordan

3

Awesome! Thanks for the prompt reply. Time to update my strength template from legacy 12WS and take advantage of your Black Friday sale! As you suggest, I’ll go with Strength I for now with a plan to run Strength II after that (assuming all goes well).